Pentatonix was formed when Martin High School friends, Kirsten “Kirstie” Maldonado, Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying came together to enter a contest to meet the cast of the television show, “Glee.” Together they arranged a version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” and even though they did not win the competition, they gained attention both locally and globally when they posted their version of the song on youtube.
After graduating from high school, the three members parted ways for separate colleges. While attending classes a University of Southern California, Hoying joined an a capella group called SoCal Vocals. It was during his time in this group that he heard about a television singing competition called “The Sing-Off.” This inspired Hoying to persuade Maldonado and Grassi to join together once again and enter the competition; however, the rules required a minimum of four people. This led to Hoying recruiting Kaplan, who had a highly recognized bass voice, to join the group as well. Eventually they also added Olusola, who had garnered attention through his youtube video of him simultaneously playing the cello and beatboxing. The group met the day before the competition and successfully auditioned for the show, eventually taking away the title.
After winning season three of the show, they were signed to Sony-owned Madison Gates Records. During the recording process, the group would post up some of the cover songs to their youtube account, some of which went on to go viral. By January 2012 they released their first EP entitled “PTX, Volume 1,” which sold 20,000 copies in its first week. They followed up with a Christmas album later that same year, and they made many television appearances to promote both albums, and went on tour for most of early 2013. They released a second EP while on tour, all while simultaneously posting more videos of their cover songs on youtube. The release of their third studio album, “PTX Vol. III,” which was released in fall 2014, debuted at Number 5 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts.
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Thom Yorke
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